10 keys to unlock talent and drive business growth.

Now is the time for visionary companies to develop a new long-term relationship with their people and through them their customers.

Potentuel will work for businesses that have recognised that their people are their most valuable asset, their primary source for future success, innovation, competitive advantage and growth. That the relationship has to change if they want to attract, retain and develop talent.

In the past unlocking what people think, and feel was perhaps seen as impractical, peripheral or a ‘nice to have’ HR tactic that could not work alongside the more serious commercial demands of the business, shareholders, customers, and the drumbeat of a financial year.

This world has changed and now there is a new business-like way to navigate this process to unlock people potential as a business imperative.

10 key factors can make this happen:

1. Servant leaders and shareholders who genuinely respect the views of their people, recognise them as their most valuable asset and primary source for future success and competitive advantage.
2. A leadership that wants to listen and is prepared to change. They want to know – good and bad – how their people feel and what they think. They are keen to prioritise and enact their new ideas.
3. They recognise that the people best positioned to rethink the current business are those closest to the processes and experiences that most need improvement.
4. They are ready to adopt a strategic response to covid and the business challenges of today, recognising that employees and customers have new expectations. Need to negotiate the opportunities and pitfalls of this new world.
5. They want to combine forces with talent to revisit and create a new meaningful business purpose, vision, and mission. More than the usual ‘word-crafting’, a crystal-clear north star and direction of travel, backed by shared operational plans and metrics, and everyday deeds. A universally successful destination.
6. It’s a two-way street. Talent wants to be part of the future success of their business and have the trust to express their ideas, criticisms and feelings openly and safely without judgement. They also have the maturity to grasp this new responsibility enthusiastically and seriously.
7. An organisation that wants to proactively attract, retain, and fully engage the best talent who think and feel this way.
8. They want a strategic programme with three inter-connected workstreams, starting with people engagement which powers a new improved service culture and in turn customer leadership. All three are developed concurrently and feed into the pursuit of the ultimate prize – a universally successful destination for everyone.
9. A commercial framework bespoke to their business and market context. They want to use processes and workstreams aligned to their financial year to ultimately develop the universally successful destination, with no daylight between the business plan, objectives, mission, vision, and the people plan of the organisation.
10. A simple, methodical and pragmatic plan, aligned to the FY timings, working alongside internal teams (starting with CPO), systems, culture and building on existing successful initiatives. A strategic solution, but where low-hanging fruit and ‘top three’ pain points are identified and addressed at speed.